I read an article about languages in British schools on the Guardian website yesterday. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... -education)The woman who wrote it felt embarrassed that a lot of Brits, her self included, can only speak their own language. While I kind of see why a lot of people won't make an effort when they can get so far by only using English, I was very entertained...(and a bit annoyed) by one comment someone made to the debate.

"Most foreigners don't speak other languages either, just English"

I thought that was a brilliant defensive argument.... apart from the fact that to us English is another language

And may I say, biscuit, you and Amanda have a very good grasp of English. I never think that when we post, you have to mentally translate what we say, then write your response. I'm interested to know what your process is - is it automatic, or do you have to dissect sentences to understand their meaning?

I never have to translate the language in my mind, thankfully. I can't even remember having done that, but I must have when I was a kid I guess. I sort of suck at German, but even there I will rather think in crappy German than translate

I have spoken to people who were really surprised that I don't mentally translate so maybe some people actually do no matter how fluent they seem. Maybe I'm just too lazy

And so, no I don't have to dissect sentences. I just read them like I would read Norwegian and think in English all the time while reading, writing or speaking English

What do you guys do with your other languages? I'm guessing you translate in your head then, Nancy, as you assumed that is what I and Amanda do:)

Well, I don't really speak a language, I just understand some Spanish from high school, NYC, and LA.

I would love to be able to immerse myself in Spanish so I could learn it. My nephew spent 6 months in Spain as part of his studies, but I'm not sure how much he retained. Is that what the Rosetta Stone system is based on, assimilation?

I think it is generally hard for native English speakers to attain another language by living in Europe for shorter periods, simply because too many people speak English, and will jump at the chance to practice their foreign language with a native This especially goes for the North of Europe, where not being able to converse in English is definitely the exception.

If you need to speak a language to communicate I think you learn much faster!

I'm too much of a chicken to learn that way though. Moving to France and having to depend on my horrible French skills sounds like a nightmare But I bet you I'd know a heck of a lot more after 6 months. The trick would be to avoid the other foreigners I guess. I think you would naturally gravitate towards people you could communicate with more easily.

It's dawning on me now that what I just described as my worst nightmare is exactly what I put Nicholas through at age 3, when we sent him to English nursery with a pat on the shoulder and a "lykke til" (=good luck) He knew two English words; "no" and "nose". After a month he understood almost everything they said to him, and after two months he spoke in broken sentences (leaving out the words he hadn't yet mastered) and after three months he could communicate without much trouble at all.

biscuit wrote:What do you guys do with your other languages? I'm guessing you translate in your head then, Nancy, as you assumed that is what I and Amanda do:)

I'm only fluent in English but when learning other languages no I didn't translate in my head. I mean, maybe in the very beginning but once I had a decent grasp of the language there was no need for that. I vividly remember dreaming & thinking in German when I was actively studying it.

Last edited by SheWolf on Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think I tend to over-analyze, which is why I translate words instead of seeing sentences. But after hearing sentences over and over while living in NYC and LA, it became easier to understand. So maybe I could become open to hearing a sentence instead of a group of words.

Peaches wrote:Bit of a stupid question, but to the Texans of the board...what's your accent like? Is it like Dr Phil?

That really is a good question, Peaches, but it just conjured up the funniest picture in my mind...Dr Phil. And then I realized that I don't read one word of any members' posts and think of you speaking in accents, even though I'm sure if you're from the UK you'd have a British accent, and of course you, Peaches, would talk like the Outback guy, right? I find it strange that I never even thought of any of you speaking with accents.